You may never see a new Kanye West CD ever again. The rapper has claimed he could be done with the format, posting a series of tweets in which he said: “I was thinking about not making CDs ever again ... only streaming.”
I was thinking about not making CDs ever again... Only streaming
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) March 7, 2016
He went on to describe the packaging for his 2013 release Yeezus – which came in a transparent jewel case – as an “open casket to CDs” that signified the death of the format. He then added: “Uuuuuuum, so there it is. ... No more CDs from me.”
West has certainly been prepared to walk the walk so far. His latest album, The Life of Pablo, is still only available via the streaming service Tidal. Although he initially claimed it would also be made available as a download from his website KanyeWest.com, so far Tidal is the only legal way someone can hear the album.
Along with several big-name artists, including Jay Z, West is one of Tidal’s co-owners. He has said that he will never make it available on rival services. It is currently unclear how well The Life of Pablo has performed, as Tidal have not disclosed streaming figures, although the track Waves did reach the top of the Billboard streaming chart.
